Month: April 2009

Tomorrow morning, I’ll be leaving for Penguicon in Detroit, so today is eaten up with (a). finishing up day-job work, if possible, (b). charging all phones, cameras, iPods, and mini-laptops, (c). trying to plot a wardrobe, and (d). preparing the household for my absence.*

In a few minutes, this whirlwind of activity will be interrupted by Psynde, who will be joining me for lunch. This is probably a good thing, because it will distract me from my imminent freak out over here. I like to travel, but I live in permanent fear of forgetting something important, which is probably why I tend to be the most ludicrously over-prepared person in any given group of out-of-towners. But hey, when the zombie apocalypse comes, some of us will have all the Benedryl, band-aids, Advil, Maalox, notebooks, lotion, pens, tissue, cough drops, eye drops, hand sanitizer, and tiny flashlights … and some of us will have NOTHING.

I make no apologies.

Anyway. You may reasonably expect me to be all but absent for the next few days, though I’ll make a point to stay (more or less) current over on Twitter — on account of I can post to that site by phone, from the road. So follow me there, if you’d like. Otherwise, I’ll see you all when the party is over.

Yes yes, I’ve been absent a lot lately. I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to clean up an enormous, tragically torqued file for my day-job … and also trying to juggle two creative projects which alternately demand appalling portions of my attention. At the moment, I’m trying to give priority to the day-job deadline, because I really want to have this file fixed in its entirety before Penguicon — for which I’ll be flying out on Thursday.

But Dreadnought progress is the only thing I can satisfactorily quantify with a word-meter, so that’s what you get today. [Aside: Speaking of that word meter, I’ve gotten a handful of emails and comments lately, wanting to know where I got it. It comes from Writertopia’s Toolbox. Consider yourselves duly briefed on this matter.]

So hereâ€™s recent progress on the battlefield adventure about a widowed nurse from a Confederate hospital aboard a west-bound train pulled by a Union war engine â€” now with military intrigue, steampunk Texas rangers, undead political separatists, murderous plots, bushwackers, bandits, sabotage, and epic scenes of mayhem:

Things Accomplished in Real Life: Still plugging away at the day-job, as well as the Project Which Must Not Be Named (but which is due to start eating my life in earnest any day now); did not actually beat any of the electricians to death, even though they woke me up early (for no good reason, as it turned out), and even though they spent all day trying to burrow up through my floor with industrial-grade power tools while I was trying to work (technically they’re tearing up my downstairs neighbor’s ceiling, but it SOUNDS like it’s my floor); created filing system with spiffy new crate and hanging folders for secret project of doom; went to the bank and got some cash for the coming weekend.

Reason for Stopping: Suppertime. Will probably return after suppertime to either get more writing done, or get more day-job work done. This depends on how badly I feel the need for a glass of wine. I won’t do day-job work while imbibing; but I will totally write about dirigibles and steampunk nurses while imbibing. I’m not sure what precisely this says about my work ethic, but oh well. There you go.

Here’s recent progress on the battlefield adventure about a widowed nurse from a Confederate hospital aboard a west-bound train pulled by a Union war engine — now with military intrigue, steampunk Texas rangers, undead political separatists, murderous plots, bushwackers, bandits, sabotage, and epic scenes of mayhem:

Observations: Jesus, but planning a cross-country trip in the 19th century must have been an epic freaking undertaking. I get to invent my own rail lines and dirigible transport routes, and it’s still a logistical nightmare … never mind the war zone that gets in the way of much of it.

Things Accomplished in Real Life: Did much day job work; was thrown offline most of the day while Qwest got its act together and (eventually, late this afternoon) got our connection up and stable; therefore was incapable of doing much of the research/poking around required for more information. Oh well.